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Talk:Drop Dead Devious/@comment-3041875-20161129233220
Honestly, guys, I was worried about how your finale was going to shock me. While I like the dots to be laid, I like the twist of how they connect to be revealed to me, but as you had a limited number of suspects (since 4 mains are the butlers), I had tried to make peace with the fact there couldn’t be that big a reveal. Even if I was wrong about it being Justine, the reveal of the killer's identity was still unlikely to shock me. But you did shock me, in another way. Justine was the killer, but I was slightly wrong about the motive – the man she loved was Matthew, and not Jose. I was very impressed with how everything came together, and very, very content. This was probably the first amazing episode of the series, guys, the first that was pretty much perfect, and definitely the stand-out, which is great. The main plot was wonderful and had me engrossed from start to finish, and all four of the butlers were pretty good. The Good – I loved the flashback in the opening teaser, seeing Jose's frustrations over his life and taking it out on the butlers for being content not to want more and take advantage of their employers to get it. The dialogue in the scene was good throughout, with Rena jokingly mentioning how he'd exploit Liz if he found out about an affair, and then I could feel the uncomfortableness caused by Jose. Excellent scene. I really liked the scene of Joe telling the other butlers, and I could feel his struggle to come clean. Then, I also liked his scene with Joanna: "I told a few lies, but I'm still me!"; I don’t think lies are the problem, Joanna, but the few limbs you hacked up, before framing your butler. Still think Joe is being too forgiven, considering ignoring a confession of murder isn't a good way to get your badge back, but apparently Joanna didn’t think he was being forgiving enough, and I'm very curious as to where the end will lead. I thought the ending was a little bit odd, cause we already had one of the butlers arrested for the crime and it arose a bit randomly, but I'm glad that it connects to Joanna, as there remains a lot of her character to be revealed, so I'm excited by it. Again, I enjoyed the dialogue between Alison and Joey, as he so evilly has her miserably prepare for their wedding, while as usual saying things he will do to her that night. I also liked the scene of Ali preparing for the wedding, with Joanna and Liz as her less than helpful assistance. Excellent scene of Joe confronting Joey, though thought Joey lost his cool a little too easy, especially after being smart enough to notice the camera. The dialogue in this scene was especially good by Joe, however, and I loved how he went to tell Joey "a story". I liked Joey's arrest, and Ali revealing the basement. As I've said, Joe was great this episode, and I'll get to Ben soon, but first will mention Rena and Josh, who both didn’t seem to have quite as predominant roles, but I enjoyed what parts they did play. First, I liked Eli's return and him and Rena's eye contact, the successful actor subtlety letting the butler know that he knows. Then, I really enjoyed the reveal that Brad was gay and had feelings for Josh, and then it just kept escalating, from date planning, to kissing, to more, and it was all quite shocking and enjoyable. I like the idea of Brad sticking around this way, and I'm excited to see Josh have a proper relationship that will hopefully give his character some life. Now, onto the main part. There was another nice subtle hint in the first scene of Justine's jealously (if it indeed was), that was also very amusing, of her actually considering Joe was coming out as gay and that he was in a relationship with her boyfriend. Then, it was interesting having Ben in such a delusional state of bliss, since of course, in TV, you should always be worried for a character when things appear too perfect for them, which made it make all the more sense that Justine could be the killer. I say delusional because Justine is actually pretty horrible, telling him to send his messages in a text and more concerned about the value of the ring in dollars than anything else; Ben is clearly a terrible chooser of women. This isn't out of nowhere though, and I like how that throughout the season, we’ve had Justine being terrible at times, when I've questioned how Ben could love her, and then other times when she wins even me over. I enjoyed them telling the butlers about the engagement, with some more banter between Justine and Rena, while Josh is uncomfortable by the urn, and they're watching the surveillance. Excellent reveal, with Ben working out it can't be Matthew, just before Justine holds up the gun. The reveal really was amazing. I was very worried that you had no way of shocking me, and I had already tried to make peace with that, seeing as how you had a limited number of suspects, and Justine was the only one with a motive that I could guess at, but I expected Jose to be the man, and I'm so relieved that it was Matthew, and shocked, and impressed. I'm impressed at how it all made sense, including things that bothered me previously such as Ben and Justine's 104 story, and the small details like Liz having stepped on the ashes of Justine's cigarette, and I really like how Matthew came back to be so important to the mystery, very unexpected. The confrontation was awesome, and I loved how there was still an obvious connection between Ben and Justine, and she even apologised to him, then I loved Joe's line about, "Happy reunion!", and how Justine still choose to name Matthew as being the love of her life, and not Ben. Great end! I also just want to mention that the standard of writing was excellent throughout, with some nice details such as Andrew knowing a good spot for alcohol because he sees Joanna there. The Bad – Small complaint, but Ali got off with everything a little too easily. It'd be very difficult for her to prove she kept the secret of out fear for her life from Joey, and a DA definitely would have enough evidence to build a case for a trial; she had ample opportunities to phone the police or run away, after all. You're right that a judge could then dismiss the charges before trial if Brad convinced the judge to do so, but the DA would need time to build their case before the judge could do this, so it'd be a long way down the line. I understand, however, that this would have disturbed your story, and I'm pretty forgiving of it, since it's so minor and the series did at least address the issue. This criticism is more in regard to the season's story, than the finale. I was surprised when Joe thought Matthew was the killer and not Joey, considering what we saw at the end of 111, and it'd have helped if we had seen clearer Joe's thoughts on the clues, and how they had been fitting in his head. The reasoning didn’t really make sense to me either, he thinks that Joey hired Matthew because he knows of business they did on the night, but what motivation would Matthew have for accepting? Him and Ben have worked well together, but not really properly discussed hypotheses, or instead of this, Joe could have voiced his thoughts to the audience via an audio recorder or something, just something so that we could have followed the investigation more closely with him and saw how things fit in his perspective across the season. I also think there was some missed opportunities of inserting more red herrings, such as casting more doubt over Tyson's innocence, not having Liz be so distant from the mystery story in the episodes leading to the finale, and having a clearer suspect going into the finale. These things would have given Justine's reveal more impact. Best Butler - It's definitely between Ben and Joe, which is fitting in the finale since they've been the strongest two butlers across the season. They also had the two roles most connected to this season's mystery, while the other two stories felt more stand-alone, and so they were the most important, interacted most with the mystery-related characters, and I really enjoyed them working together. Ben is easily the most characterised and defined of the butlers this season, with the most engaging story, and while he had a couple of rocky episodes or times when he was a little grating, his story has always been clear and easy to root for. Joe, meanwhile, had the story I was most interested by after the pilot. His story was pretty consistent across the season, never poor, but was often underwhelming in the early episodes when it felt he wasn’t making enough progress mystery-wise. Again, though, his motives have always been clear (I like that there was both his desire to return to the force, and also his need to clear Tyson) and easy to root for, and he had plenty of interesting interactions. I think he carried his own in the last two episodes especially, and had an awesome final confrontation with both Joey and Justine this episode. Overall, I enjoy Rena's character and his ambition of becoming an actor, and mostly enjoyed his episodic stories of his drama with Liz and Justine, though the sex story dragged, and there were some downs. I think Rena is at his strongest when we are at the core of his ambitions, and I'm also curious as to how the story with Eli will progress. It's still quite hard for me to think of Josh as a character, despite his many great stories, because they don’t actually stem from his actions, but I won't go over that again, since it's been explained. I'm optimistic about Josh's potential stories in season 2, and willing to make it a fresh start for him, so long as there are improvements with his character. Best Butler Of The Finale – Joe. Best Butler Of The Season – Ben. Other Characters – While I always summarise my feelings on the butlers in my reviews, I don’t always for the other character, so like I did at the end of OUaV seasons, I will do that now briefly. Firstly, Matthew started as a hilarious character to laugh at, and then became quite dangerous, though I felt he escalated a little quickly, he was a very strong character, and I'm very impressed with how relevant he was to the revelations in the finale; very good character, overall. Alison, Joanna and Justine, then, are all also very good. Even though she was keeping the darkest secret, from early on, Ali's personality was the least off-putting of the women, and her relationship with characters like Ben and Jennifer seem very pure and just enjoyable to read. While Alison was intriguing from the beginning, Joanna revealed herself to be equally dark and mysterious when she killed Matthew and framed Josh, which was a massive development, both for her character and the plot, and she has just kept getting better since then, having a very interesting relationship with Joe, and allowing us to experience her inner conflict quite vividly. Alison and Joanna are probably the two characters I'm most excited about when it comes to next season, in order to see more of Joanna and to see how Alison develops without Joey around. Justine, on the other hand, was an amusing character, but not very likeable in the beginning, but I really grew to love her interactions with Ben and Rena, and loved finding out the deeper levels to her character. I'm quite happy, actually, that her journey ended at the end of season 1, even though I thought I'd be upset, because it means she exits the show before she becomes grating, and will be remembered very well, as her story concluded excellently, with some really great twists concerning Matthew. Joey was very strong this episode as a threatening villain, as he often is to Alison, and has some good, harsh dialogue to her. His story in regard to the basement is also probably the strongest of the series so far. Overall, though, I think Joey is too defined by the basement story, and I don't see how he'll be strong enough to stand on his own now that story is resolved. A good villain doesn’t necessarily need to have a fascinating or sympathetic backstory, but they should, in that case, have something about their personality and characteristics that makes them unique and memorable. Joey isn't a bad character, by any means, but I think he's just quite an average villain, as he basically could have just been replaced with any basic asshole, as there was nothing particularly distinct or original about his backstory or personality, and a great villain should have at least one. Basically, what he did was not interesting, distinct and memorable, but who he is, is none of those things. Liz is the character I'm most indifferent about, and have little opinion. She isn't a bad character, and her sex story with Rena was interesting, though it dragged. I just don’t yet find her all that engaging, and hope she progresses some in the next season. Overall, I think pretty highly of the main characters, especially for only the end of the first season. Overview – Excellent episode guys, and pretty decent season. The reveal surrounding Justine and Matthew was awesome, and I was surprised with Joey taking the blame in the ending. I'm excited to learn more about Joanna and the Little family, as well as see how Ben will deal with Justine's parting, how Ali will develop without her husband (just Ben and Ali in the house now!), and how Josh's relationship with Brad will develop, while I hope Josh will grow as a character from this. In the next season, I hope to connect with Rena and Josh, like I have with Ben and Joe. The basement story was the season's highlight, and captivated me since the ending of episode 3, and while I said Joey's character wasn’t all that interesting, the story he created definitely was, as the basement women created some great scenes, especially with Jennifer and Ali, shocking twists, like them vanishing, and provided good framework for Joe and Ben to investigate the season's main mystery around. Very good work, guys, in creating a very accomplished finale!